Both iOS and Android platforms have released toolkits (HealthKit for iOS, Google Fit for Android) to make it easier for developers to build health apps and address issues such as (a) lack of standardized data, (b) lack of universal system for sharing between people, (c) app fragmentation and (d) privacy and security (see 1 for a detailed overview).

In May, Cornell Tech announced the release of ResearchStack to enable the inclusion of study participants who use Android phones 3.

Today, we are pleased to announce the public release of the Small Data Lab ResearchKit Extensions (sdl-rkx) and Small Data Lab ResearchStack Extensions (sdl-rsx) packages, available immediately as open source projects (Apache 2.0 license) on the Cornell Tech public github repository.

With sdl-rkx and sdl-rsx, researchers can easily incorporate visual self-report mechanisms into mobile apps built with ResearchKit or ResearchStack. A demo app that leverages the extension is included in each repository.

Stay tuned for an upcoming blog post where we will walk you through integrating sdl-rkx / sdl-rsx into your existing research applications. The post will also more generally discuss extending ResearchKit and ResearchStack, as well as some pitfalls to watch out for.